Investment in Sustainable Development: A UK Perspective on the Business and Academic Challenges

There are many legislative, stakeholder and supply chain pressures on business to be more ‘sustainable’. Universities have recognised the need for graduate knowledge and understanding of sustainable development issues. Many businesses and universities have responded and introduced Sustainable Development models into their operations with much of the current effort directed at climate change. However, as the current worldwide financial crisis slowly improves, the expectations upon how businesses operate and behave are changing. It will require improved transparency and relationships with all stakeholders, which is the essence of sustainable development. The challenges and opportunities for both business and universities are to understand the requirements of sustainable development and the transformation that is required. They should ensure that knowledge is embedded within the culture of the organisation and wider society in order to achieve a sustainable future

Learning design – making practice explicit

New technologies have immense potential for learning, but the sheer variety possible also creates challenges for learners in terms of navigating through an increasingly complex digital landscape and for teachers in terms of how to design and support learning interventions. How can learners and teachers make informed decisions about what technologies to use in the design and support of learning activities? This presentation will consider this question and present a new methodology for design – 'learning design', which aims to shift the creation and support of learning from what has traditionally been an implicit, belief-based practice to one that is explicit and design based. Learning design research at the Open University, UK has included the development of a set of conceptual design views, a tool for visualising designs (CompendiumLD) and a social networking site, for sharing and discussing learning and teaching ideas and designs (Cloudworks). An overview of this work will be provided, along with a discussion of the perceived benefits of this new approach to educational design

Conditions for the successful implementation of teacher educator design teams for ICT integration : a Delphi study

Teacher educators often struggle to model effective integration of technology. Several studies suggest that the involvement of teacher educators in collaborative design is effective in developing the competences necessary for integrating information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching. In a teacher educator design team (TeDT), two or more teacher educators (re-)design curriculum materials together. For the successful implementation of TeDTs, conditions at both team and institutional levels have to be taken into account. However, there is little consensus among stakeholders about which of these conditions are of highest priority. Most studies present priority or critical conditions from the viewpoint of just one group (e.g., school leaders). A Delphi study was set up aiming at synthesising the knowledge and views of various stakeholders about the conditions for the successful implementation of TeDTs for ICT integration. Consensus about the importance of ten conditions was reached in the entire sample after three rounds. These conditions include a long-term vision, trust, ownership, time and supportive institutional policies

Unpacking capabilities underlying design (thinking) process

Engineering graduates must know how to frame and solve non-routine problems. While design classes explicitly teach problem framing and solving, it is lacking throughout much of the rest of the engineering curriculum and is often relegated to capstone classes at the end of the students’ educational experience. This paper explores problem framing and solving through the lens of experiential learning theory. It captures core problem framing and solving approaches from critical, design and systems thinking and concludes with a table of learning outcomes that might be drawn upon in designing an engineering curriculum that more fully develops the problem framing and solving capabilities of its students

OULDI-JISC Project Evaluation Report: the impact of new curriculum design tools and approaches on institutional process and design cultures

This report presents research and evaluation undertaken by the OULDI-JISC Project (Open University Learning Design Initiative JISC Project) between 2008 and 2012. In particular, it considers the impact of new curriculum design tools and approaches piloted by the project on institutional processes and design cultures. These tools and approaches include tools for sharing learning design expertise (Cloudworks), visualising designs (CompendiumLD, Module Map, Activity Profile) and for supporting design and reflection in workshops (Facilitation Cards, workshop activities, etc.). The project has adopted a learning design approach so as to help foreground pedagogy and learner experience. Nine pilots have been completed across six UK universities

Categorisation of visualisation methods to support the design of Human-Computer Interaction systems

During the design of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems, the creation of visual artefacts forms an important part of design. On one hand producing a visual artefact has a number of advantages: it helps designers to externalise their thought and acts as a common language between different stakeholders. On the other hand, if an inappropriate visualisation method is employed it could hinder the design process. To support the design of HCI systems, this paper reviews the categorisation of visualisation methods used in HCI. A keyword search is conducted to identify a) current HCI design methods, b) approaches of selecting these methods. The resulting design methods are filtered to create a list of just visualisation methods. These are then categorised using the approaches identified in (b). As a result 23 HCI visualisation methods are identified and categorised in 5 selection approaches (The Recipient, Primary Purpose, Visual Archetype, Interaction Type, and The Design Process).Innovate UK, EPSRC, Airbus Group Innovation

Sensemaking on the Pragmatic Web: A Hypermedia Discourse Perspective

The complexity of the dilemmas we face on an organizational, societal and global scale forces us into sensemaking activity. We need tools for expressing and contesting perspectives flexible enough for real time use in meetings, structured enough to help manage longer term memory, and powerful enough to filter the complexity of extended deliberation and debate on an organizational or global scale. This has been the motivation for a programme of basic and applied action research into Hypermedia Discourse, which draws on research in hypertext, information visualization, argumentation, modelling, and meeting facilitation. This paper proposes that this strand of work shares a key principle behind the Pragmatic Web concept, namely, the need to take seriously diverse perspectives and the processes of meaning negotiation. Moreover, it is argued that the hypermedia discourse tools described instantiate this principle in practical tools which permit end-user control over modelling approaches in the absence of consensus

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

A DESIGN FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

Aristotle theorized, \u27The whole is more than the sum of its parts.\u27 Design engineers often overlook this simple philosophy. We employ a reductionist approach when designing the built environment: engineering solutions for the individual parts rather than the system as a whole, creating and exacerbating problems in the process. A whole system, interdisciplinary approach that considers the interrelatedness of global issues is increasingly recognized as essential to finding truly sustainable engineering solutions (NSB, 2007). However, both the precise nature of this whole systems approach, and the best ways to incorporate it in engineering education remain undefined. To address this gap in knowledge, this research: (1) methodically reviewed the literature to define and unify the general principles of whole systems design; and (2) used the literature to develop a conceptual framework for whole systems design for sustainable infrastructure. A systematic literature review guided by a predefined protocol used 13 search terms spanning the engineering, architecture, and planning disciplines to identify components of the whole systems framework. Sources identified in the literature review fell under five primary categories: sustainable development; architecture, planning, and urban design; engineering, environmental management and business; and systems thinking. Principles were extracted from the resources, empirically coded, and organized into a framework using concept mapping. The resulting framework was organized into three overarching categories: design processes, design principles, and design methods, with a total of 20 principles, or components of whole systems design. It combines the theories, perspectives, and practices of multiple design disciplines and experts making it germane for applications of design ranging from the microscopic level of a chemical, to the macroscopic level of a city, for example. Organizing the literature surrounding whole systems design aids in building consensus around the defining elements and sets the stage for future research on the subject